Side chair

Date1755-1790

OriginAmerica, New Hampshire, Portsmouth

MediumBlack walnut and maple

DimensionsOH: 36 1/2"; H(seat): 16 5/8"; 21 1/4"; OD: 16 3/4"

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Mildred Abbe

Object number1986-220

DescriptionAPPEARANCE: yoke-crested side chair with pointed and flared ears; thin, tapering splat with long, vertical piercings, arched top and bottom, and interrupted at the center; tall, thin shoe with shallow quarter round molding set on thinner rear rail; thinly rabbeted seat rails slightly rounded-off at the top; rectilinear box stretchers with little shaping; squared rear stiles, chamfered on interior edge below seat and on reverse above seat.

CONSTRUCTION: all elements of walnut except as noted; pinned mortise and tenon joinery on seat rails and stretchers; modern triangular glue blocks appear to match design of the originals (based on glue residue evidence) and are glued and nailed into place; shoe nailed to rear stretcher; splat tenoned into crest and shoe; stile tenoned into crest; seat rails rabbeted to accept mortise-and-tenon joined slip-seat frame (maple).
Markings"I" chiseled into from element of slip seat frame
ProvenanceChair came into the Abbe family from the Grinnell family in the early 1930's. Ira Ray Abbe (b. 1875) married Myrtle Grinnell (b. 1880) in 1912, and the chair came into the family when Myrtle Grinnell Abby's father, Myrtillo (b. 1850) moved in with them around 1930. Family tradition also indicates that the chair went from Virginia to Michigan to the Chicago area to Lubbock, Texas, and finally to Tahoka, Texas.